


Beautiful bolero

by Falconette



Category: Free!
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Older Rei, sfw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 23:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11172564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falconette/pseuds/Falconette
Summary: You started dating your coworker. Or are you two just hanging out together? The subject matter is older Rei. He always struck me as a guy who would wine and dine you, but would take all eternity to make a move. Kinda sweet and frustrating at the same time.





	Beautiful bolero

**Author's Note:**

> The background soundtrack for this piece is, predictably, BOLERO by Maurice Ravel. You’ll know when to play it

**Beautiful bolero**

I stood near the train coach door, counting stations, anxious not to miss my stop. Theoretically, it would not be the end of the world if I did and had to take another train back - at least in Tokyo the metro system runs swiftly and frequently – but I didn’t want to be late. Even when he was still just a bland coworker in the institute, Rei had struck me as the type who held punctuality in high regard and it would definitely not make me look well if I turned up late the first time he called me over.

Now that he finally did.

We have been seeing each other for couple of months now, after several weeks of his subtle advances that were more cute than passionate so at first I just mistook them for polite pleasantries. That was the thing; Rei liked things proper, formalized, organized, predictable. So after a chaste fihst date in a coffee shop where we talked about everything and nothing over steaming mugs, I found a sweet handwritten note on my desk tomorrow morning;  

_I had the most wonderful time yesterday  
_

_and sincerely hope You share my sentiment._

_I do look forward to a possibility of meeting You again  
_

_in wish to continue our pleasant conversation._

His letters were even, handwriting tidy, elegant and well spaced, harmonically filling the handpicked piece of washi paper imprinted with the seasonal flowers, indicating he had some formal training in calligraphy arts. It had also left me completely clueless on our status or his intentions. Were we dating or just getting to know each other as friends outside the working place?

I got the picture, more or less, when he tentatively took my hand on our forth date, the first one that was arranged in the evening, while we were strolling through Ueno park full of people, pointedly avoiding deserted areas where deep shadows thrown by thick boughs could indicate that we were up to no good. At one moment we were walking side by side and at another his palm slid across mine, his fingers gently bending to clasp mine. The touch was so unobtrusive and light, I thought that any inadvertent change of pace of our footsteps or a stronger wind would break the hold apart, but he didn’t let that happen. I smiled and didn’t comment, seeing him adjust glasses on his face with his free hand from the corner of my eye. He didn’t try to kiss me until the next time we met, probably giving me space and time to back away if I felt I wanted to and decline his next invitation. It was the proper way to save face of all concerned parties, after all.

By that time, I was not looking at exhibits of museums we visited anymore, or at birds he pointed out, species after species, in parks we walked through. All I wanted to do was to feel _him,_ but there always seemed to be an invisible barrier between us, a wall only our hands occasionally breached when they touched. No matter how cramped the train we rode on or how a convenient opportunity, Rei, ever the gentleman, would take conscious care not to impose deliberate or even accidental touch on me, leaving me wondering if we was into physical contact at all.

However, he was a good kisser - I discovered that once he finally decided that being so bold and forward was due. Gentle and immersed, he didn’t treat kisses as perfunctory ways to say hello or goodbye, or something couples did when they could find a precious when and where away from the public scrutiny. When Rei kissed, he did it with his eyes closed, emotionally, thoroughly and intimately, making our embrace warmer, erasing the space between us. His kisses made the world go away and their scarcity made them that much more precious. I loved the way he would look at me in those tight embraces, his glasses a bit foggy, his usually sharp eyes a bit glazed, both of us feeling our hearts pound like we were teenagers. I loved the way that collected, smart, no-nonsense man was left speechless and at the mercy of emotions when he gave in to them.

That same man would, however, tomorrow morning at the institute hardly nod a hello my way, addressing me and everybody else in the formal, polite and detached manner. He never suggested a visit to a love hotel and, honestly, I had mixed feelings about that. Yes, women like to be wooed and courted, but they also liked to be touched, craved, made love to.

On the other hand, being too straightforward and aggressive with a guy like Rei could scare him off as that kind of behavior certainly wouldn’t be proper or ladylike. I just didn’t get it, he seemed to be timid but far from inexperienced, and he did seem to like me. I was starting to fear he was one of those people who intended to hold on to their chastity until marriage.  From what I knew about Rei so far, the theory did make some weird sense. The idea of perfect purity rang too close to his character traits for comfort.  

That is why I didn’t want to be late on this date. I wanted to make him speechless again and soon.

I followed the e-mailed instructions, detailed and precise, to the correct metro exit. There his tall figure stood waiting, offering his elbow once I cleared the ticked gates. I slid my arm under his and reflected his smile, breathing in the mild mixed scent of his cologne, clothes and skin that I found calming.

“Have you been waiting long?” I asked, already knowing what he would say.

“No, I just got here.” he responded promptly in his even, calm voice, making my smile widen. I bet that I would have found him standing here, with the same patient composure and the reply at ready, if I had arrived ten minutes too early or fifteen minutes too late.

His apartment was nearby, a five minute walk through a good neighborhood. The place was small, practically furnished and with soft lighting, giving out the air of cozy tidiness which was uncommon for most bachelors’ apartments. On one wall, discreetly illuminated, stood a parchment scroll with a single kanji character “美” for beauty written in black ink. I leaned in to discern little red mark of Rei’s personal hanko stamp on the bottom.

“You are an artist?” I turned to him, my eyebrows raised.

“Oh no,” he waved his hands in embarrassment, “I’m a scientist. This was just… an experiment .”

“I don’t agree.” I stepped back to fully appreciate the intricate strokes of black on white, to take in their layout and movement.  There was strength and genuine expression in the sole character, a reflection of the author’s heart. “Experiments, as a rule, have to be repeated with the same results to be rendered successful. No one, not even you, can redo, mimic or emulate this. It is unique. It is art.”

I looked at him again, concluding quietly, “It is beautiful.”

Rei studied me for a moment before bowing his head slightly and murmuring, “Thank you.” There was a pleased and relieved undertone to his voice, but I could not get a good look at his face because he disappeared in a miniature kitchen, saying, “Please, make yourself comfortable.”

I took a few more seconds to observe the scroll. There was no room for hesitation when writing with ink; any premeditation, pause or reluctance would show in strokes, blotch the paper and destroy the characters and their impression. How could the careful, hesitant, double-checking Rei let his heart lead his hand like that, without calculations or thoughts?  

I walked along filled bookshelves that covered most walls, my eyes sliding across titles and book spines of variable colors and sizes, seeing a few I would like to read myself. I came across a picture in a simple frame of younger Rei and several other boys by a poolside, probably in his hometown, celebrating something. They could have been high school age. Rei must have worn glasses even then because he squinted into the camera a bit but that didn’t prevent him and the others around him from beaming with joy. I knew he was a recreational swimmer, but he never told me he had been a competitive one.

“Weren’t you into athletics?” I inquired.

“Oh, that old photo. I eventually picked swimming.” Rei smiled, putting two glasses of tea on a low table, “It was a long time ago.”

“Did you win any races?” I looked around for medals or plaques and found none.

Rei came over, took the photo and studied it with a soft expression on his face. He shook his head, “Not alone, but we were a pretty good relay team. I never found such good mates in college so I quit the swimming team after the first semester. It was just not the same… ” he trailed off, then remembered himself and quickly returned the frame to the shelf.  “I don’t want to bore you with these old stories.”

With his hand, he gallantly gestured at the sofa for me to take seat and moved to a vinyl record player. The room was soon filled with flowing melody of Bolero, snaking around us discreet and light in its beginnings. The record might have been old fashioned, but the sound was crisp clean. The small apartment had an impressive surround system that brought out every note, every instrument in a way I have never experienced before, transporting us to another place. It was magical.

“Even though Bolero’s grandeur comes out in its vehement ending,” Rei said quietly out of veneration for the musical piece, as he sat down next to me. “I like this, the pianissimo part the most.”

I smiled in a velvet voice, leaning on the cushions towards him, “I kind of expected you would.” The melody was still stifled, carefully feeling its way through the unfamiliar territory.

He blinked at me couple of times, weighing my words, “Is that a bad thing?” The question was more a statement than inquisition and I shook my head slowly, holding the eye contact. His pupils were wide, steady. No, I didn’t think him less of a man for not being loud and aggressive. I liked his measured and intelligent demeanor, his sophistication and cultivated taste.

For some reason, his cheeks flushed red and I noticed how close we sat, with no one else here, all this space and time just for the two of us. It was now or never.

“Rei,…” I began, but he interrupted in a flustered but resolute tone.

“I have to say, it is very difficult for me to, to court you in our free time and then treat you as a coworker at the institute. Some things are just…” he squirmed, looking for an adequate expression, “not done.”

An icicle of panic formed somewhere in the bottom of my belly. “Pardon?” I muttered.

“What I wanted to say and inform you,” he straightened up in his seat, inhaling, “is that I have found a new post in an international research facility. The interviews and paperwork took awhile.” He turned his eyes to me again, clearing his throat pointedly, “So starting Monday we are technically not coworkers anymore.”

“Is that what was all this about!?” I asked, a bit too loud in my frank relief, and it was his turn to stutter.

“Pa-pardon?”

“You don’t intend to keep your virginity till marriage, do you?” words flew out of my mouth at the speed of thoughts.

“PARDON?” Rei’s expression changed from horror to genuine laughter in two heartbeats, “No. And even if I did, it would already be too late for that.”

“Oh“, I mumbled, feeling stupid and out of things to say. He moved in closer, looking me earnestly in the eye.

“I just couldn’t be a completely objective fellow scientist of the same lab and a romantic partner at the same time. It would make both my private and my professional life, well, complicated.” he explained.  

“And beauty is simplicity.” I whispered over the flutes and drums in the background.

His lips sealed in a confirmation into mine, as hot as a branding iron. The intensity of music around us picked up as per cue and  I kissed him back, an emotional rollercoaster inside me taking another turn, releasing a thousand fluttering butterflies in my stomach and I decided to ride along wherever it took me.

Rei’s hands, the precise and delicate tools of his trade, now traced serpentines across my neck and collarbones, dancing in the beat of the majestic melody that encompassed us, making my skin hypersensual and elevating my heartbeat. The glasses slid down his nose and when I moved away, he looked at me with half-open mouth and unfocused orbs, something hungry but too well domesticated to hunt lurking inside. I felt my lower belly shudder pleasantly at the sight.

“Do… we have to wait till Monday then…?” I breathed out in a sticky voice, my lips searing.

“Would you like to wait?” It was the first time Rei’s voice came out raspy and deep. Beneath his shirt, I could clearly see his chest heaving in shallow breaths he stove to keep silent. Ever the gentleman.

I shook my head, snaking my hand up the hair on his neck, removing his glasses with the and pulling him in, closer, too close to go back.

He followed eagerly.

THE END

~~If you want to know what happened next, just listen to the music piece till the end and use your imagination. Holy molly!~~


End file.
